Cultivator



-E. D. POWELL.

Cultivator.

No. 231,846. 1 Patented Aug. 31,1880.

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SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 231,846, dated August 31, 1880.

Application filed May 21, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, EZEKIEL D. POWELL, of Yates township, in the county of McLean and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cultivators; and [do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, form in g a part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 is a plan view of myirnproved cul tivator. Fi 2 is a rear elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the line as as of Fig. 1.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the class of double or straddle-row cultivators; and the invention consists in the novel combination and arrange ment of parts, all as will be hereinafter fully described, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

To enable others skilled in the art with which my invention is most nearly connected to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In the drawings, A represents the usual arched axle employed in this class of cultivators, and B B the wheels journaled or mounted on the ends of the horizontal portions to a of the axle.

G (J represent two bars or beams connected at their front ends, forming what is known as a split tongue. These bars or beams are connected to the sides of the vertical portions a a of the axle by metallic straps b b, and by braces c c to the lower horizontal portions to a, the rear or lower ends of said braces being connected to the axle portions a a by clips dd.

To each of the axle portions c a are connected the sections of plow-beams D D by means of a band or clamp, E, passing around said portions a a of the axle, and the beams being connected or journaled to said plates E by bolts 0 0. By these means the plows can be raised and lowered and turned to either side, as required, through the medium of the handles F F, by the operator. I

Each of the sections D is composed of three plow-beams of different lengths. The longest beams are provided with long steel shares ff, facing toward each other, and arranged at an angle of about thirty-six degrees. The intermediate beams are provided with similar arranged steel shares, while the shortest beams are provided with similar shares arranged at or about the same angle, but with greater slope, and facing outward or in opposite directions, all as clearly shown in Fig. l.

The handles F F are connected together by an adjustable and swivel-ended brace, Gr, havin g centrally mounted therein a pulley, H, over which passes the adjustable guide and stay chain I, having its ends connected to the intermediate beams of the sections D D.

P y the above-described arrangement of parts the pivoted beams are at all times stayed or held in whatever positions they may assume relatively to each other, whereby the operator is enabled to perfectly control the cultivator, with the additional advantage of light weight and draft, which are very essential in this class of machines.

My improvements are adapted to be applied to any class of wheels and axles now in use for the cultivation of corn or other products of the earth requiring similar culture, and the ma chine may be constructed either of malleableor wrought iron with steel shares, as described.

The operation of my improved cultivator is as follows: The shares of the first or shortest beams, as they pass along the row of corn while the cultivator is in operation, remove all of the grass, clods, and other rubbish from the corn at a sufficient distance to permit the shares of the intermediate beams to follow in their track and gather the clean and loose earth gradually in and around the corn, while the shares of the longest beams remove the earth from the center of the space between the rows, adding to the hills of corn the fine pulverized earth made by the shares of the intermediate beams, thus increasing the size of the hill near the corn, and leaving the row of corn perfectly clean and free from grass and rubbish.

By my improved cultivator I am enabled to commence the cultivation of corn when it first appears above the earth.

I am aware that a pair of scrapers to clean off the rows, followed by reverse scrapers to earth up the plants, secured to stationary beams, are common in cultivators, and such I do not wish to be understood as claiming, broadly, as of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1.. In a wheel or straddle-row cultivator, the combination of the two sections of pivoted plow-beams D D, of different lengths, the shortest beams having angular shares facing outward or in opposite directions, and the intermediate and longest beams having angular shares facing inward or toward each other, all constructed and relatively arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.

2. In a corn plow or cultivator, the combination, with pivoted plow-beams and their handles, of the adjustable connecting-brace Gr, having pulley H, and the guide and stay chain I passing over said pulley and connected to the beams, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.

EZEKIEL D. POWELL.

Attest:

RUBEN L. SARE, HARRISON AUSTIN. 

